


Stability and Sincerity

by renegadejaybird (vitious)



Category: Nightwing (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1950s, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 02:10:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/616911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vitious/pseuds/renegadejaybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xmas Present Prompts: Set in the 1950s, Greaser Jason has a thing for a certain boy in a letter jacket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stability and Sincerity

Dick was that guy that every girl wanted to go get a shake and a burger with.  His hair was perfect and his smile more so, never mind that he drove a T-bird that he’d custom painted a gorgeous, royal blue himself.  All he had to do was pull in somewhere and all the girls would flock to him, demure and flirtatious, and he would smile, flashing teeth, and the girls would practically swoon.  Most likely they were all competing for who would get to wear his letter jacket.  
  
On the other hand, Jason was that guy that parents warned their daughters about.  His hair was slicked back, his jacket black leather, and he tended to travel in a pack.  His cadillac was black and a little worse for wear, something that he’d had to take extra jobs to afford as he wasn’t quite as well off as Dick.  Girls were both entranced by and wary of him, drawn to the sense of danger around him, his roguish smile.  However, despite the attention he received from the girls that hung with him, his friends and those good girls looking for a little excitement, he found himself more interested in something he really shouldn’t have been.  
  
One night he managed to catch Dick when he was sliding out of his car, bracing his leather clad arm on the roof and offering the other man one of his devious smiles.  He watched the confusion on Dick’s face, then the wariness that all the girls tended to express, before a smile curved those perfect lips.  Jason felt his own smile widening, sliding into something a little more honest, a little less mischievous, and, for a moment, he thought he saw the other man’s cheeks tinged pink.  However, before he could say anything, a girl yelled at him to leave the other man alone, his expression morphing into one of annoyance as he glanced over his shoulder.   
  
“I guess I’ll talk to you later.” Jason muttered, looking back to the other man. “Your fan club’s gettin’ all antsy.”  
  
“I… Yeah.  I’ll talk to you later.” Dick answered, climbing out of his car with a smile and slipping past him, their bodies touching more than was really necessary.  
  
Jason watched the other man walk away, chatting animatedly with the girls that flocked to him.  He watched the polite distance, the way he smiled but never flirted, and swallowed thickly, moving back to his own car.  None of his friends were there that night, he’d specifically come to corner one Dick Grayson, but he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he’d gotten more than he’d bargained for.  Then again, he supposed that he was up to the challenge.  
  
——-  
  
It went on for weeks, weeks of quiet conversation and heavy lidded looks, always with a subtle, flirtatious undertone that began to drive Jason nuts.  He began to have urges to run his fingers through the other man’s perfect hair, to mess up the careful styling that went into it daily.  There were days when their legs would brush and Dick would give him a shy look that he didn’t know what to do with, but they were always interrupted, their interactions always cut short.  One day, however, Dick tucked a slip of paper into his jacket, lightly patting the pocket and giving him a nervous smile before slipping away. It was his phone number.  
  
Jason stared at it for a while on his parents’ old, tattered couch once he got home. They weren’t around anymore, so he hadn’t even bothered to replace the furniture.  For some reason his stomach was tying itself in knots and his heart was hammering just from the thought of calling the other man.  Nerves weren’t supposed to happen to people like him, not after everything he’d been through over the years, not after all the girls he’d dated and dumped, all the first dates… Then again, he supposed that Dick was a little different, that they had to be so secretive, so careful, that dating a guy was a little different from dating a dame.  There was also that nagging voice in his head that was telling him that Dick was just toying with him, mocking him for showing interest.   
  
It took several nerve-wracking minutes for him to finally cave and dial the number on the phone, his heart hammering in his chest.  An older, female voice answered the phone and he froze, panicking for a moment before he hesitantly if Dick was there.  He received a puzzled confirmation, so he quickly lied, explaining that he’d gone to school with the other man and wanted to catch up.  There were a few moments of silence as the phone was passed before Dick offered a hesitant, confused greeting. Jason swallowed thickly, forcing himself to keep his voice calm.   
  
“Hey. It’s Jason.” he desperately wished that his heart would stop trying to escape his chest.   
  
“Jason!  Oh, hey.” Dick sounded genuinely happy and it made him smile. “I… didn’t actually expect you to call.”   
  
Jason wished they were somewhere more private, somewhere where he didn’t have to worry about someone potentially listening in. “Yeah, well… I wanted to see if you wanted to hang sometime.”   
  
“Yeah, definitely. Sounds like a blast.”  
  
“I have a pad if you want to catch up a bit.”   
  
“Gimme the address.  You free Friday night?”   
  
Jason couldn’t believe it was actually happening, but quickly rattled off the address. “Yeah, I’m free.  I’ll see ya Friday.”   
  
“Yeah, I’ll see ya.”   
  
For a few moments Jason stared at the receiver before he smiled  and gently set it down.  His eyes slid to the pictures on the wall and he swallowed thickly, getting up to move to a picture of his mother, fingers tracing over the lines of her face.  Once his mother had passed away he’d gotten rid of all the pictures of his father, tossing all of his things, keeping only the things that reminded him of his mother.   
  
“Hey, Ma.” he breathed, biting his lip for a moment before continuing. “Dunno if you’d be happy for me, but I’m doin’ okay, ain’t I?  I hope I’m makin’ you proud.  This guy, he’s a great guy.  You’d like him.”   
  
He stared at the picture for a few more minutes, offering it a small smile before he drew away to finish tidying up his parents’ home.  There were still pieces of his father here and there that he was getting rid of when he wasn’t working, but he could at least make things look nice.  It wasn’t a mansion or anything fancy, but it was his now, and he’d promised his mother he’d take care of it for her. It had been her dream home and now he was about to share it with someone outside the family for the first time.   
  
——-  
  
Dick arrived right on time, all put-together, but he looked more nervous than Jason felt, shuffling up the driveway to knock on his door.  Immediately Jason opened the door and offered him a smile, looking over the baby blue shirt Dick wore, the way it accented his eyes, and the neatly pressed slacks underneath his cream and blue letter jacket.  They just stared at each other for a few moments before Jason coughed and step backwards to let the other man inside, cheeks heating a little.   
  
“I… sorry.” Jason muttered, closing the door behind him.   
  
“I—No, it’s cool.  Um—I hope—I mean—How I’m dressed—” Dick stammered, horribly awkward and unsure.   
  
It was then that Jason realized that Dick was just as worried as he was and he had to smile and shake his head. “No!  No, you look great.  I wasn’t sure if you’d come or—”  
  
“I’ve just never—”   
  
“—done this before?”   
  
They stared at each other for a long moment before they burst into laughter, loud and relieved, nearly doubling over from the force of it.  It took a few moments for it to die down, both of them smiling when they looked at each other and it felt so nice to just be happy.  It took so much effort to be popular, to be that guy that everyone wanted to be, that being able to laugh about something so silly felt good.  Despite that, some of the awkwardness and nervousness came back, but Dick hesitantly moved forward a little into Jason’s personal space, and Jason suddenly just wanted to touch him. How did this work with a guy anyways?  
  
“I—Um, I guess we can’t really do traditional date stuff, huh?” Dick asked, shy and uncertain.   
  
“I guess not, but we can make our own, right?” Jason countered, smiling a little when the other man blinked up at him, curiosity piqued. “I mean, I have this place to myself, I have a record player and I can grill a mean burger.”  
  
Dick’s face lit up and he tentatively reached out to grip his hand. “We don’t know each other too good, yet, huh? I wanna get to know you.”   
  
“I wanna get to know you, too.” Jason admitted, gently squeezing his hand, hating that they had to do this in secret, but it’d be worth it.  
  
“I—Right now I kinda just…” Dick trailed off, looking uncertain before moving a little closer, his cheeks flushing.  “I mean—I always went there cos I wanted to at least see you—”   
  
Jason’s eyes widened before he moved to gently grip the other man’s shoulders. “That’s why I went there.  Man, the dames were always annoying but you were just so…”  
  
“I didn’t think you’d ever be into it.”   
  
“You know, me neither.”   
  
“I’d—I mean—Can we go steady?”  
  
“Yes!  I mean—Yeah, yeah.  I’d like that.”  
  
Dick’s smile was bright, full of perfect, white teeth and joy that made Jason’s chest ache. His hands flexed on Dick’s shoulders, his eyes searching his face, trying to think of the last time he’d been so happy.  It was different, being with a guy, but it was still so good, so much better than the little flings he’d had after he’d had to drop out and get a job, after his mom had died, after… everything.   
  
“I—Um.  Can I… kiss you?” Jason asked, feeling horribly forward and yet shy. “I mean—I’ve just wanted to since I first saw you and—”   
  
“Yes.” Dick interrupted, a little sheepish. “I—Yeah.  I’ve wanted you to for a while, I mean…”   
  
Smiling, the younger man leaned down, pressing a gentle, shy kiss against Dick’s mouth. It wasn’t that different, just unmarred by the taste of cheap lipstick.  Dick was the one that leaned into it, making it a little firmer, his arms wrapping around Jason’s neck.  It felt so good, everyone else’s opinions be damned, and he slipped his arms around his new boyfriend’s waist, holding Dick against him.  They broke apart, staring at each other in silent wonder before Dick gave him a warm smile.   
  
“I really like this, Jay.  I… Can I call you that?” Dick looked startled by his own use of the nickname. Then again, nobody called Jason that, ever.   
  
“Yeah.  I like it.  Just you, though,” he answered, tentatively lifting his hand to comb his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair like he’d wanted to for so long.   
  
He really thought that his mother would have liked Dick.  In that moment, he knew that she would have been so happy for him, so happy that he was finally smiling again.  So many people would have thought it was wrong, that it was perverted, but he was so happy. It couldn’t be wrong, could it?  If there was one thing that Jason had learned to savor over the years of abuse, of loss, of sorrow, it was his happiness, so there was no way he’d let Dick go now.   
  
“I, you know… I noticed that you live with your parents still,” Jason began, swallowing thickly. “And this place is really big.  Maybe if we work out you could—”   
  
“Yeah!  Yeah, I mean I’ve been looking for a place, so if we work…” Dick trailed off, pressing another quick kiss against Jason’s mouth. “I like this place.  It’s nice.”   
  
“I think my mom would have wanted you here,” Jason admitted softly; even mentioning her still made his chest ache.   
  
“If it would make her happy, then that’s just more reason,” Dick answered, lifting his hands to cup his cheeks; the physical affection still felt surreal.  
  
In that moment, Jason was fairly certain that he’d fallen in love with Dick Grayson. “Besides, your T-bird would look great in my driveway.”   
  
“Yeah, it really would, wouldn’t it?”


End file.
